Sky Pirate and Gamer
by Blood-Smeared Shuriken
Summary: Jessica Blake gets transferred to Ivalice. Full Summary Inside. BalthierxOC
1. Prologue

Sky Pirate and Gamer

Disclaimer: I don't own FFXII or any of its characters, not even Balthier. Squaresoft does. Isn't it sad?

Disclaimer Part Two: I do, however, own Jessica Blake (and she isn't based off of anyone, so apologies if she sounds like you). She's mine. You can't have her.

Summary: Jessica Blake is transferred into the world of FFXII one night, and has to quickly adapt to her new life, and work out how to stay sane when she's basically living with the one character in the story that she can't stand – Balthier Bunansa.

Main Pairing:

Balthier/OC

Prologue

Jessica Blake glared at the screen of her tiny TV, swearing under her breath. The words GAME OVER shone dark red on the screen – all her characters were dead once again. She swore and hurled the controller across the room. This was so stupid, she'd lost once again and it wasn't even that hard a boss. When she'd bought Final Fantasy XXII off one of her workmates for a ridiculous price she'd expected it to be good, not so difficult she couldn't get past the third major boss. She flung herself on her bed and glared moodily at the ceiling.

"Why can't I do this? And for that matter, why am I, at nearly twenty-one years of age, still playing Playstation games in every bit of spare time I can get?"

She groaned and covered her eyes with her hand, not liking to admit that really, the game was pretty cool. The characters were interesting, and the story was good. The only thing she had wrong with the game was… Balthier. He was so obnoxious, arrogant and up himself. And he was way too good looking. And as for those super tight pants… What the hell was he trying to prove?

She sighed and rolled out from under the warm covers of her bed, padding into her tiny bathroom. Glaring into the mirror she saw a small, pale, nearly-twenty-one-year-old with long unruly black hair and seriously weird silvery grey eyes with black flecks in them. The girl in the mirror was scowling, straight black brows drawn down over a small nose. She was pretty, in a scary sort of way – she looked the way a dark angel should probably look, except for her hair. Her hair ate brushes.

She turned the shower on as hard and hot as it would go, then stripped and stepped under the scalding water, hissing quietly in pain then closing her eyes against the spray, letting the water pound away all her frustrations, not only with that dumb game, but also with her meaningless life. She slept, she worked, she ate (when she could afford it) and she just basically existed. But she didn't _enjoy_ it. Her love life was non existent – she'd had one boyfriend in high school and then nothing, not even a date, ever since she'd caught him in bed with the school skank. She'd tossed him out of her life, and claimed to anyone who cared (read: no one) that she didn't miss him. Cos she didn't. The fact that she'd got all sniffily when she'd found some of his old stuff in a box in her cupboard was utterly beside the point…

As she washed her hair in untangling shampoo (which didn't work), she found herself thinking about how nice Balthier's ass actually looked in those super tight leather trousers. She was horrified at herself.

_What the fuck?? For god's sake, Jessica, he's a fictional character in a video game! You are not that desperate. Yet._

She switched the shower off and got dressed in her awful work uniform (which was made up of a scratchy, _pink_, woollen, knee-length pencil skirt, icky white heels and utterly awful baggy white blouse). She battled with her hair for a few minutes before giving up in disgust and just whacking it back in a bun. Then she grabbed her wallet and keys and stomped downstairs, climbing into her elderly car and driving off to the tacky estate agents where she worked. She quickly forgot her thoughts concerning Balthier's behind.

XxXxXxX

Jessica staggered home at about six o'clock in the evening and swiftly changed out of the hated uniform into black jeans and a thick blue jersey. She thought about dinner, then remembered that she was supposed to have gone shopping on her way home and there was nothing edible or um-mouldy in the entire house. She rolled her eyes. "I suppose we'll be giving dinner a miss tonight," she muttered to herself and collapsed onto her bed, reaching out to switch the Playstation 2 on. "At least I'll have some entertainment…"

Half an hour later, she was nearly screaming with frustration. She was dead all over again. "Why the fuck can't I just beat this frigging thing?!" she yelped, slamming her fist into her pillow over and over again. "I just don't get it!!"

She rolled over and glared at the ceiling. Then she restarted the game and loaded a different file. She ran around inside the game for a few seconds then settled back to watch the movie again.

"…_Incidentally, what is the going rate for rescuing princesses theses days?"_

Jessica glared at the screen, feeling her hatred for the cocky sky pirate growing again. That was better – so long as she had someone to be mad at she couldn't be depressed.

"_Food would be a start __–__ the good stuff mind you." _

Halim Ondore said something, I barely registered what, I was busy watching Princess Ashe's face go blank as she realized that her uncle really wouldn't be helping her… and that this stupid sky pirate was more worried about his stomach than he was about her.

"… _Time enough for a bath, I hope. Dirty business, you know. Ah, best bring a change of clothes too." _

Can we say neat freak?

What a jerk.

Jessica watched the next scene, where Ashe was trying to get the airship started, trying to find a way to save her people. Vaan was arguing with her, telling her that she couldn't steal the wonderful _Balthier's_ airship. Jessica rolled her eyes. Well, why not? It'd do the cocky bastard some good to have someone steal from _him _for a change. Maybe he'd come back down to earth and realise that he wasn't so great after all.

And here he was, waltzing in and acting like the moron he was. _"That's quite enough, your majesty."_

Vaan and Ashe both twisted around and stared at him, lounging against the doorframe and actually talking into the intercom when he was only a few feet away from the two of them. Dick.

"_What do you think? A bit over the top?"_

Jessica groaned and switched the PS2 off. She'd thought being mad at Balthier would make her feel better, but really she was just getting more and more depressed. She couldn't believe that she'd sunk so low that she needed to get mad at an idiot in a game to feel better about herself.

She staggered to her feet and got changed into a pair of black satin boxer short and a t-shirt, deciding to read in bed for a few hours then have an early night. But for some reason, she kept yawning, feeling utterly exhausted all of a sudden. She gave up eventually and turned the light out, snuggling down into her bed and going to sleep instantly. For some reason she dreamed of Balthier.

She could never have known that the next morning, when she awoke, she'd be somewhere very different with a certain sky pirate standing over her, looking amused. Her formerly boring and "meaningless" life was about to get very complicated…


	2. What the Hell?

Chapter One – What the Hell?

There was too much light. Jessica knew she'd pulled her bedroom curtains across last night, so her room shouldn't be so bright. She muttered a swearword and flung her arm across her face. She yawned, then winced. It was too hot as well. Her skin felt as though it was burning. She jumped convulsively as jerked her eyes open as a cultured voice drifted lazily to her.

"If you do not get out of that sun soon, you're going to get the most awful sunburn. Just a warning."

Jessica stared in horror at the owner of the voice. "Oh, no," she gasped. "Ohhhhhhhhh, no, I'm dreaming. I have to be dreaming." She pinched her arm, really hard, and then yelped at the pain.

Balthier, who, according to the laws of reality shouldn't be sitting there on a boulder cleaning his gun, tilted his head to one side and smirked. "What one earth did you do that for?" He sounded genuinely curious. Jessica tried to ignore him. "I can't be here…" she muttered, scrambling to her feet. "It's impossible."

"Why?"

Jessica whirled on him, silvery eyes furious, black hair a tangled mess around her slightly pink face (yes, she was getting sunburnt, it had to happen, really). "Because I don't even belong in this world!" she hissed. "This place doesn't exist! None of this is real!"

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes!!"

"**Duck**. **Now**."

Jessica's mind was stilling trying to process what the hell was going on as her body instinctively flung itself to the ground. There was a loud bang as Balthier shot something, then a thud as a dead monster landed beside her. It looked like a big, nasty wolf. She couldn't remember what they were called, but she remembered that they were found in the Estersand, just outside of Rabanastre. It had a bullet hole in its head.

Jessica had a small amount of its blood on her face and arms. She wiped it off as though in a dream. She actually was still hoping that this was some sort of bizarre, too-real nightmare. Failing that the fumes from the dope addicts next door had crept into her room while she was asleep and she was tripping. Well, either way she hoped that it would all end soon. She didn't think she could stand this.

There was a light crunch of sand as Balthier jumped off his boulder and walked towards her. He offered her a hand. She stared at it blankly. "Well, come on."

She just lifted her eyes and stared at his face instead, then looked at the body beside her. He sighed and shifted his gun to its stand by position on his back. Then he crouched down in front of her. "Are you alright?"

"Not really. I'm in a different world to the one I normally live in, I'm talking to a guy who I'm not sure exists, and I just nearly got eaten by a fiend. It's shaping up to be a pretty shit day."

"On the plus side, I can offer you breakfast and possibly a change of clothes. You _do _realise that you're wearing pajamas, don't you?"

Jessica looked down at her t-shirt, smeared with a little blood from the monster, and then up at Balthier. "My partner Fran might be able to work out how to get you home," he added coaxingly. Jessica sighed and stood up, swaying slightly. "Where to?" she asked in a monotone. She wanted to go back to sleep again – she was tired and maybe she would wake up in her own bed and find out that this had all been a nightmare. But for now, she'd accept this bastard's offer of food and clothes. She hadn't eaten last night and she was pretty hungry now.

"That way," Balthier said, pointing. In the distance she could see a glint of light off smooth metal: the Strahl, Balthier's airship, most likely. Jessica nodded then started to trudge off in that general direction, Balthier wandering along at her side. He was pretty tall – she only just came up to his chin – and his legs were much longer than hers, so sadly she wasn't able to outpace him. She actually ended up being the one who had to just about jog to keep up, which did nothing to improve her growing fury.

Finally they reached the Strahl, and as Jessica stepped into the shadow cast by the airship, she couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. The trouble with having porcelain skin, or whatever, was how quickly you got sunburnt. She was probably resembling a cooked lobster by now.

Balthier walked up to the one of the hatches and banged in a couple of numbers on the entry pad. The hatch slid open and Balthier smiled and gestured Jessica to pass through. "After you."

She just gave him a filthy look and stalked inside, inwardly screaming with delight that she was off the hot sands and into the cool. Her bare feet were burnt from the sand though, and they hurt like hell.

Balthier led her through the ship to the cockpit, where a tall, white haired woman with long hare's ears protruding from her head was sitting, fiddling around with the controls of the ship. She twisted around and was half-way through a smile to Balthier when she caught sight of Jessica. She jumped to her feet, staring in shock. "You… are not from here," she gasped, pointing at Jessica.

"No, I'm not," Jessica replied quickly. "I'm from somewhere so far away it's scary. Do you have any idea how I could get home? And how did you know that anyway?"

"Your Mist… feels very strange. It… I don't know how to explain it. How did you get here?" She walked slowly towards Jessica as Balthier stepped around the girl and headed over to fling himself in one of the seats. He gestured that Jessica should sit down as well, she did so warily, not really liking the idea of doing anything this arrogant jerk told her to do. But she was tired so there wasn't really any point in arguing. "I don't know, Fran," she said in answer to the viera's earlier question. "I went to sleep in my own bed last night and woke up here. I really don't understand."

Fran looked surprised. Balthier sat up straighter from his slumped position on the chair. "How did you know Fran's name?" he demanded.

Jessica gave him filthy look. "You've already told me what her name is, Balthier, when you said that you'd bring me back to talk to 'Fran'. Anyone with a brain would've picked it up. That excludes you, by the way."

The sky pirate raised his eyebrows and smiled easily. "Fair enough. Now, how did you know _my_ name?"

Jessica realised she'd been caught out with a sinking heart. Damn. She winced and muttered, "Now that is going to take a lot longer to explain…"


	3. New Clothes, Nicknames and Stolen Apples

Chapter Two – New Clothes, Nicknames and Stolen Apples

"So what you are meaning to say is that my world has somehow been copied into a game that people in your world play for entertainment? And that you have somehow been transported here overnight?"

"Yes! God, I've explained it a million times!! You're meant to be smart, so catch on already!"

"Sorry, but I'm finding it a bit hard to swallow, really. Do you think she might possibly have heatstroke, Fran?"

"She is speaking the truth."

"Ah. Wonderful."

Balthier frowned at Jessica thoughtfully. She gave him a baleful stare in return. "Why do you keep looking at me like that?" the sky pirate suddenly asked her in a plaintive tone of voice. "What _have _I done to offend you?"

"I… just don't like you, okay? Not every female on the planet has to fall into a swoon at your feet. Accept it and move on."

"You cut me to the quick, Miss…" He frowned. "I haven't asked your name yet have I? How rude of me… What are you called, then?"

"Jessica Blake."

"Jess? Jessie?"

"Jessica."

"You really aren't making this easy, you know."

"Was I meant to?"

Fran watched the two of them bicker with a slight smile on her face. This was really quite amusing. The girl definitely didn't like Balthier very much. The tall, beautiful viera stood up and looked at Jessica. "Will you be wanting some different clothes? Those aren't really suitable for everyday wear."

Jessica bit her tongue so as not to blurt out that the viera's clothes (if they could even really be called that) weren't exactly suitable for daily wear either, unless one spent one's days working in a strip club. Instead she nodded and stood up. Anything to get away from Balthier and his too amused pale green eyes…

XxXxXxX

Jessica stared into the long mirror inside Fran's room, chewing her lip and trying to work out whether she liked her new clothes or not.

Well, they were very Final Fantasy XII-ish. She would sort of blend in among the bizarre outfits of this world. And at least they were black. Jessica frowned uncertainly.

"You look fine," Fran said calmly, watching the younger woman. "It suits you."

Jessica turned around and gave the viera a worried look. "Are you sure? We don't really wear stuff like this in my world… or well some people do. But I don't."

"You really do look fine. I promise."

Jessica turned and looked into the mirror again. The girl she saw in there was a very different girl from the one she'd seen in her mirror yesterday. She wore a white linen shirt with the sleeves ripped off, laced at the throat, tight black leather trousers (she swore never to compare them to the ones Balthier wore – how would she be able to criticise him now that she wore nearly the same clothes as he did?) and a long, sleeveless, black leather jacket, which came down to about mid calf. On her feet were black zip up combat boots and around her left wrist and right upper arm wear a pair of wide black leather bands/bracelets. That was normal enough, except for well, the shirt had a big chunk taken out of it so most of her midriff was laid bare, and the jacket had some sort of strange design etched on the back. Other than that it was fine. Except… Jessica really didn't want to see Balthier's face when he saw her wearing it. He would smirk, she just knew it.

She sighed and turned around towards Fran. "I guess I'm ready then. Thanks for the clothes, Fran. I really appreciate it."

The tall viera warrior smiled slightly. "It was no trouble. I don't mind helping you, Jessica. Now, lets head back to Balthier. No doubt he will have gotten you something to eat by now."

XxXxXxX

Balthier, in fact, had completely forgotten about getting Jessica some food. He was sitting in the cockpit, with his feet on the flight deck, looking at a map and eating an apple. He looked around as the two women came back into the room, and what he did next made Jessica really want to kill him.

He smirked.

"What a lovely outfit, Jessie," he said brightly, sliding his feet off the deck and standing up. "It suits you." His eyes slid up and down her body appreciatively. Jessica suppressed the urge to steal his rifle and fire it point blank into his stupid grinning face. Instead she stepped around him and sat down, nicking one of the apples from their bowl on the flight deck and flinging herself into one of the seats.

"Don't call me Jessie," she said flatly.

"Why ever not? And those are _my_ apples, thank you very much," he added, stealing the apple before she could take a bite. "You promised me breakfast," Jessica retorted, taking her apple back once more. She sank even white teeth into it, biting off a bit, and chewed thoughtfully. God, it was delicious, crisp and wonderful. "I hate being called Jessie," she said, once she'd finished her mouthful. "Don't do it."

"You steal my apple, you deal with the punishment," Balthier said flippantly, sitting back down, picking up his discarded apple and munching into it. "I'm calling you Jessie from now on."

Jessica groaned. "I think I'll just go back out and die in the desert, thanks."

"Balthier," Fran said quietly, going back to her earlier job of fiddling with the flight deck in preparation for launch. "Be nice." To Jessica, she said, "He's rather possessive about those apples. Sorry."

"I am being nice," Balthier protested.

"If this is nice I don't really want to see obnoxious," Jessica commented, taking another bite out of her apple. Balthier gave her an injured look. "You think I'm obnoxious?"

"Haven't I made that clear already?"

Fran closed her eyes. "Could you two please go argue somewhere else? And can you eat those things more quietly? My ears are very sensitive to sound."

"There is no quiet way to eat an apple," said Balthier and Jessica at exactly the same time. They glanced at each other, then Jessica looked away, out the window, blushing for some unknown reason. Balthier smiled.

"Where are we going?" Jessica asked after a little while.

"Back to Rabanastre," Balthier answered her. "If you are going to be staying in Ivalice, Jessie, then you'd better get equipped and start learning how to fight. Or else you'll be killed and then I'll be ever so upset."

"DON'T CALL ME JESSIE!!! And I won't accept any charity from you, you jerk."

"Jerk? What did I do to deserve that? And you already have accepted charity from me, or hadn't you noticed that you're wearing different clothing from the ones you arrived in?"

"Shut UP, Balthier."

Fran sighed. It was going to be a long flight.

A/N: Sorry if Balthier's a little OOC. I did my best.


	4. Rabanastre: Part One

Chapter Three – Rabanastre: Part One

Jessica had seen Rabanastre before, in the game, but watching on a little screen was nothing compared to experiencing it first hand. It was loud, brightly coloured and smelled of spices and more realistically of animal shit. Balthier spread his arms wide and said "Welcome to Rabanastre, Jessie."

Jessica rolled her eyes. "Don't call me that," she said, shoving him half-heartedly. She knew by now that nothing would stop him from using that annoying little nickname. And the sad truth was that she was actually getting used to it. Not that she would ever tell him that, of course.

Balthier didn't even stumble when she shoved him, which was frustrating, just swayed away from her and swaggered down the gangway of the ship, with his gun over his shoulder, humming the opening lines to some song. A whole crowd of girls watched him go, fluffing their hair and applying make-up. Jessica glared after him, hands on her hips. Fran walked up to the pissed off otherworlder and reminded her that they had shopping to do.

Jessica smiled at the tall archer. At least one of her two companions was _nice_.

XxXxXxX

An hour later Jessica was still trying to figure out what she might be good at, weapons wise. She had never even seen a sword before, let alone stood in a shop where there were dozens of them on display along side a startling array of dangerous looking things used for poking holes in people. And they all looked way too hard to use. Jessica was not cut out for this sort of thing. Like, for example, she wasn't strong enough to lift most of the swords in the shop and use them with any hope of winning a fight and not, oh, chopping her toes off, maybe. She had no idea how to use a bow and she was scared of guns. Maybe a dagger… A dagger she could use… Hell, a dagger she could _lift_.

She turned to her viera companion, who had been waiting for her with remarkable patience. "Fran? What do you think?"

"Remember to choose something Balthier or I can teach you to use. There is no point having a weapon if there is no way to know how to use it."

"Good point. The only problem with that idea is that you two specialise in bows and guns which, may I hasten to tell you, I _am not_ going to be good at. I'm not particularly strong, the nicest way to refer to my hand eye coordination is to simply say that it needs help, and I'm not too sure about the whole aiming thing. I am not talented."

"Don't be so quick to put yourself down. I am sure you have some kind of talent."

Jessica gave a weird sort of laugh. "Uh, yeah, right. Whatever you say…" For a second, bitterness flashed across her face then the look was gone. It was so quick Fran wasn't quite sure she'd even seen it. She was distracted from wondering about it, though, as there was a collective gasp from the female patrons of the Weaponry shop, and then a mass scramble for make-up. Jessica closed her eyes.

Balthier had entered the building.

Women admired the tall sky pirate as he scanned the shop for his two companions. Jessica contemplated hiding behind one of the glass display cases, but it was too late. A smile lit Balthier's face and he strolled towards them. The aforementioned feminine component of the shop admired his back view with equal (if not more) interest. Jessica wanted to throw up. How could they be so damn obvious? Had they no shame?

"So, has she found anything to her liking yet?"

Jessica glared at him as her former irritation with the bastard returned ten-fold. She didn't know why she hated him so bad. It was sort of irrational, but she was just fine with that. Jessica was good at irrational.

"Go away, Balthier," she muttered, casting an eye over the shop's merchandise once again.

"It doesn't normally take nearly an hour to choose one weapon, Jessie," he replied calmly. "Do you need some help?"

"Get fucked, Balthier," she said sweetly, hating that condescending tone.

His comeback was so quick that she just knew he'd been waiting for her to say something like that: "Was that an offer?"

Jessica could feel the entire shop waiting for her reply with bated breath. She turned around and glared at him. Big mistake. Somehow the sight of his smirking face made her knees go weak and she felt like she was about to melt into a little puddle on the floor. She forced herself to smile and said, "You _would_ be screwed if I said yes, wouldn't you?"

"Jessie, darling, that's the whole point of the proposition – someone gets screwed." It was so obvious that he had the upper hand here.

Jessie made a couple of silent resolutions at this point:

1 – She was going to stab Balthier with something pointy at her first opportunity, and

2 – She was going to get a new vocabulary. Too many of the words she used could be twisted around to embarrass her.

Time to take back control of this argument. "Well, go ask someone else," she said with a perfectly blank face. "I'm not interested." She looked around, taking note of all the fascinated faces, and added sardonically, "Though I'm sure you'd find a taker just in the clientele of this shop. I'm definitely in the minority here."

Several people blushed and shot Jessica killer glares. Balthier glanced around and laughed softly. "One point to you, Jessie." Jessica rolled her eyes and turned back to the showcases.

"Don't call me Jessie."

XxXxXxX

"So, what are you proposing to do now?"

Balthier's calm voice cut abruptly through Jessica's reverie. "What?" Balthier sighed and leaned forward, waving his fingers Jessica's nose. "Pay attention, Jessie. What are you going to do now? You've proved that you aren't exactly _talented_ with any of the arsenal that Amal had on display."

Jessica flushed and glared at the sky pirate. "Shut up." She had being trying desperately to block the memories of her humiliating little performance from her mind, and had been managing it admirably up until her reminded her. People watching in the Sandsea was pretty fun. The people who came in were interesting to say the least. There were bangaa and seeq and more than a few weird looking adventurers with even weirder looking equipment. "I was trying not to think about that."

Balthier didn't laugh, which earned him a couple of grudgingly given respect points from Jessica, just shrugged and said, "Well, you did warn us. The only little issue now is that you have no weapon, and that Ivalice is full of monsters that are just dying to eat you. Also, if you are going to be staying with myself and Fran, then you are probably going to encounter bounty-hunters as well."

Jessica bit her lip uncertainly. "I'm not sure… I don't really want to be a liability to you and Fran. I could stay here in Rabanastre, I suppose. I could probably find some sort of work as a shop clerk or something." She absentmindedly shoved strands of knotted back hair back behind her ear, frowning at the table. She was a bit scared about staying here in Rabanastre by herself, but she didn't want the two sky pirates to feel that they had to put up with her.

But Fran was shaking her head and Balthier had one eyebrow raised. "You know too little about Ivalice to be able to live freely in one of its cities,' he said. "Besides, you have no money and no place to stay. You'd end up sleeping on the streets and starving to death."

Fran added her support. "You just don't know enough yet. I do not mind you staying with us, and I'm sure Balthier does not either." She smiled. "You are welcome aboard the Strahl."

Jessica smiled back, suddenly feeling a lump come to her throat. This was just too weird for words. She had been transported to a crazy world that had somehow been mirrored in a video game, she'd met and had several arguments with a vastly annoying sky pirate and apparently made friends with his partner. Yeah, the girl with bunny ears.

She felt like she was going to burst into tears and dropped her head down into her hands. She was so damn tired. Fran lightly touched her shoulder, and glanced over at Balthier, who was looking sort of confused.

"It has been a long day," she said meaningfully.

"Ah," he said and stood up. "Come on, Jessie. We've got rented rooms here at the Sandsea. You need some sleep."

A/N: I'm not sure if the Sandsea actually has rooms you can rent but, hey! It's my story, so they do now.


End file.
